Va. Symphony Ready To Run Its `Marathon'

Inside the Arts

March 19, 1995|By DAVID NICHOLSON Daily Press

The Virginia Symphony is gearing up for "marathon '95," its second annual weekend fund-raiser, scheduled next month.

This year's marathon will take place April 7-9 in different locations throughout Hampton Roads. The symphony is hoping to raise $50,000 through donations and ticketed events while introducing new listeners to classical music.

FOR THE RECORD - Published correction ran Wednesday, March 22, 1995.In Sunday's Inside the Arts column, the name of pianist Itzhak Gartenberg was misspelled. The Virginia Symphony provided the incorrect information.

* The event will begin with a "TGIF" Kick-Off Party from 5 to 7 p.m. April 7 at the Waterside Marketplace in Norfolk. Later that evening, musician groups will fan out and perform at area restaurants and locations, including Uncle Louie's, Bienville Grill and Pembroke Mall.

* From noon to 2:30 p.m. April 8, Conductor JoAnn Falletta will lead a communitywide "Play-along-a-thon" performance in Chesapeake Square Mall. Members of the community are invited to bring their instruments and participate in this massive concert.

The symphony's Diamond Anniversary Ball to mark 75 years of music-making will take place at the Waterside Marriott Hotel in downtown Norfolk. The evening will include a five-course meal, a symphony performance and dancing to the Top 40-band Slapwater. Tickets are $100 for individuals, $175 couple.

* Finally, musicians will perform from noon to 2 p.m. April 9 at Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach and Coliseum Mall in Hampton.

The weekend will conclude with a free community concert at 2:30 p.m. April 9 in Willett Hall, Portsmouth. Falletta and Associate Conductor Andrews Sill will be joined by two young soloists, pianist Itzhak Gartenburg and clarinetist Trevor O'Riordan.

Donations will be accepted throughout the weekend. Call 623-8590 for additional information.

ARTS INTERN. There's no shortage of creativity in the arts, especially when it comes to thinking up ways to provide services in these financially tough times.

For the past year, Carlton Hardy II, president of the Three Rivers Men's Chorus, has been working with the College of William and Mary's Office of Career Services to help student interns with their transportation costs.

Each semester, the office identifies a student intern interested in working in the arts field. The student volunteers the time, while Hardy and the chorus reimburse the student for up to $150 in gas expenses.

Last semester, an intern helped Virginians for the Arts, a Richmond-based arts lobbying organization, prepare for the 1995 Arts Advocacy Day held during the General Assembly session. This semester, another intern is helping owners of Sherwood Forest Plantation catalog artworks and furnishings.

"The students are very interested in the art internships, but this money provides an extra little incentive," says Nancy Burkett, who coordinates the internships in W&M's career services office.

BLACK DANCE. Last month, I reported on the efforts by the American Dance Festival to preserve classic African-American dances that were part of this country's modern dance tradition. Several of those works were part of a Feb. 15 performance by the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company at Hampton University.

Now comes word that the Ford Foundation has donated a $500,000 challenge grant to the festival to create a series of one-hour film/television programs on the role played by African-Americans in the development of 20th-century dance. The $2.6 million series, tentatively titled "Closer to the Truth: The African-American Presence in Modern Dance," will spotlight black choreographers such as Katherine Dunham, Donald McKayle and Alvin Ailey as well as contemporary artists such as Bill T. Jones.

Writer/director Madison D. Lacy Jr., who produced the award-winning program "Eye On the Prize II," is involved in the series.